The present invention relates to a belt clip for a portable printer, and relates particularly to, a belt clip capable of universal movement (rotation and tilt) with respect to the housing of a portable printer. The universal movement of the belt clip promotes ease of carrying the portable printer on the belt of a user, while allowing the battery compartment of the housing of the printer, normally blocked by the belt clip, to be easily accessed by rotating the belt clip to a position which does not block the battery compartment or the cover to the compartment. Although the belt clip is described herein for a portable printer, it may be applied to any portable electronic device.
Belt clips are used to attach a portable electronic device to the belt of a user, such that the user can carry the device on their belt. Examples of such electronic devices often having belt clips include cell phones, pagers, and cassette or CD players. One typical belt clip design has an elongated member secured at one end to the top of the back of a housing of a device (or a container holding the device) to form a clip with the back of the housing, such that a belt can be held between the elongated member and the housing. Often, the elongated member is hinged to the back of a housing of a device, and biased, such as a spring, against the back surface to retain a belt between the elongated member and the housing. The bottom of the elongated member may have a hook to facilitate retaining of the belt. Examples of such belt clips are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,032,337; 5,791,019; 5,379,490; 5,528,770; and 4,828,153. Sometimes, the elongated member is part of a U-shaped clip attached along its length to the back of the device as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,331,721.
Belt clips may be removably attached to the housing of a portable electronic device by a slidable member coupled to the belt clip having edges which can be positioned into grooves of the housing. One reason is to allow a user to remove the belt clip if not needed, and another, is to enable access to the device""s battery compartment and its cover/door blocked by the belt clip. The small size of portable electronic devices generally requires the belt clip to extend over the battery compartment on the backside of devices. One solution to accessing a battery compartment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,784, in which the belt clip is attached to the door of a battery compartment of a portable electronic device, e.g., pager, such that by sliding the belt clip, the door is removed to access the battery compartment.
Miniature portable printers may be worn on a user""s belt by a strap through hooks on the device, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,753, or have an opening at the back of the printer for a hook which attaches to the belt of a user, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,053. However, to integrate a belt clip designs described above on a portable printer, such as the portable printer of U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,053, to obtain a desired vertical orientation of the printer when worn, causes problems in accessing the printer""s battery compartment since the belt clip would extend over and block at least part of the battery compartment and its cover, thereby making access to the compartment difficult. In this case, the belt clip would typically have to be made detachable from the printer, thus requiring additional user steps to detach and attach the belt clip each time the battery of the printer needs to be replaced. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a belt clip for a portable printer that can be readily moved to unblock the battery compartment without requiring detachment of the belt clip from the printer housing.
Although belt clips of portable electronic devices may be located at various points along one""s belt, typical belt clips rigidly hold the device to the user""s body. This greatly minimizes the amount of possibly movement of device relative to body position and motion of the user wearing the device, and often makes wearing the device uncomfortable. This especially can occur when a user is seated. Accordingly, it would further be desirable to provide a belt clip for a portable electronic device, such as a portable printer, which enables universal movement of rotation and tilt of the belt clip with respect to the housing of the device, thereby making the device more comfortable for the user to wear on their belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,141 describes a modular hand-held data capture system having a handheld data terminal which, when an automatic optical reader unit is applied to the module as an end cap, has a swivel type belt clip on the back of the terminal. Such a swivel belt clip is not capable of universal movement. In another configuration of the handheld data terminal of this patent, a receptacle compatible with a portable printer is provided without any belt clip.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved belt clip for a miniature portable printer.
Another object of the present invention to provide an improved belt clip which enables universal movement, rotation and tilting, of the belt clip with respect to the housing of a portable printer.
A further object of the present invention to provide an improved belt clip for a portable printer which allows the belt clip to be easily rotated to unblock a battery compartment in the printer housing, normally blocked by belt clip portion, without requiring detachment of the belt clip from the printer.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a belt clip for a portable printer in which the belt clip allows the printer to move more freely with the movement of the user than prior art belt clips.
Briefly described, the belt clip assembly has a one-piece clip portion having a closed U-shaped first end from which two members extend and taper towards each other to an open second end of the clip portion, a ball (or spherical member) connected by a shaft to one member of the clip portion, a socket formed by a semispherical recess in the printer housing for receiving the ball, and a retainer member for retaining the ball in the socket when the belt clip assembly is attached to the printer housing. The retainer member has a side notch to an opening which extends through the retainer member, and a concave interior in the opening shaped to conform to the spherical surface of the ball. When the ball is received in the socket, the shaft is received in the opening of the retainer member, such that the ball is slidable along the recess of the housing and the concave interior of the retainer member. The retainer member is attached, such as by screws, to the printer housing to retain the ball in the socket. Universal movement of rotation and tilt of the clip portion with respect to the housing is provided by rotation of the ball in the socket. At the first end of the clip portion, the two members are rigidly coupled to each other, but sufficiently flexible to be temporarily separated at the second end of the clip portion to clip onto a belt received between the two members. At the second end of the clip portion, the two members either meet, or are close to each other to retain a belt, and then may curve away from each other to form an elongated opening to facilitate guiding the belt between the two members.
The belt clip may be provided by two molded parts, in which the clip portion, ball and connecting shaft components are integrated in a first molded part, and the retainer member is a second molded part.
The universal movement of the belt clip allows it to be rotated to unblock a battery compartment in the printer housing, normally blocked by the clip portion of the belt clip, without requiring detachment of the belt clip from the printer housing. Further, when the portable printer is worn on the belt of a user, the universal movement of the belt clip allows the portable printer to move more freely with the movement of the user, and thus, the portable printer is more comfortable for the user to wear.
The belt clip is described herein for use with a portable printer, but may be used with other portable electronic devices, such as cell phones, pagers, cassette players, CD players, or the like.